Ombudsman to be questioned over Greens links

Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s top departmental official is to meet Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher on Tuesday to discuss concerns about his independence following revelations last week that he cooperated with the Greens on questions that were put to him in a Senate hearing.

The meeting was confirmed at a Senate committee hearing a few hours before Mr Asher was due to appear before the same committee, indicating the disquiet in Canberra over the Ombudsman’s actions.

Signalling Labor’s concerns over Mr Asher’s conduct, former Cabinet Secretary John Faulkner asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet what action it had taken on the matter.

The department’s deputy secretary for governance, Renée Leon, told the committee hearing at around 3:30pm that the department’s secretary, Ian Watt, was due to meet Mr Asher on Tuesday.

Emails released last week showed that the Ombudsman cooperated with Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young to arrange the questions that she would ask him at a committee hearing several months ago.

Several questions canvassed the shortage of resources within the Ombudsman’s office and his need for greater funding.

But Ms Leon made it clear that the Ombudsman had received funding increases in recent years to help it handle new tasks, adding that the only year there was no increase was in the May budget.

Other departments and agencies had also had to cope without extra funding in the May budget, Ms Leon noted.